Therapeutic Ketosis Part 1: An Introduction

What if one of the world’s most powerful healing agents could be made right within your body for free?

Consider this: in 2019, the pharmaceutical industry spent $83 billion on research and development. Eighty-three billion dollars in one year!

And yet, numerous medical conditions remain incurable by even the most advanced and pricey medications despite some of the world’s brightest minds with the highest level of education working tirelessly and using billions in funding with access to the most advanced technology in human history. And yet—

Your body is capable of making something demonstrably better in many cases than the spendy competition—a substance that initiates a cascade of healing effects throughout the body.

Meet THE HUMBLE KETONE MOLECULE:

It doesn’t look particularly impressive, does it? I see some oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon atoms bonded together. Big whoop.

But wait until you’ve seen its resume. 😲

When I first started writing this post, I thought I could fit all the info into one post.

But I quickly realized the scope was approaching dissertation-length so I’m dividing this info into a multi-post series with a yet-to-be-determined number of parts.

Today I’ll cover:

🔥The ketone molecule’s resume

🔥 Differentiating therapeutic ketosis from regular intermittent fasting

🔥 A brief history of therapeutic ketosis (TK)

🔥 TK Tip for the Week

The Ketone Molecule’s Resume

• Ketones are an alternative and superior fuel source to glucose for brain cells. They “increase Gibbs free energy change for ATP by 27% compared to glucose.”¹ In other words, rocket fuel for your brain.

• Therapeutic Ketosis was first discovered in 1911 as a highly effective way to treat seizures in 85% of epileptics.² For 55% of epileptics, seizures stop completely when in ketosis.³

• Researchers have found ketones to be therapeutic for brain disorders such as traumatic brain injuries,⁴ post-concussive syndrome,⁵ chronic migraines,⁶ depression,⁷⁸ anxiety,⁹ epilepsy,¹⁰¹¹ ADD and ADHD¹², brain impairment caused by viruses such as COVID and vax injuries,¹³ systemic brain inflammation,¹⁴ and brain inflammation caused by autoimmune diseases.¹⁵

• Ketosis can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s¹⁶, dementia¹⁷, and Parkinson’s.¹⁸ In early cases, symptoms can be partially reversed and patients show cognitive improvement. Complete remission is unlikely in advanced cases. Here’s a quote from a study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences titled “Can ketones compensate for deteriorating brain glucose uptake during aging?”

  Published clinical trials demonstrate that increasing ketone availability to the brain via moderate nutritional ketosis has a modest beneficial effect on cognitive outcomes in mild-to-moderate AD [Alzheimer’s Disease] and in mild cognitive impairment.¹⁹

• Ketone molecules suppress autoimmunity so have the potential to reverse autoimmune diseases by down-regulating inflammatory responses.²⁰

• Ketones have been shown to reduce multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms in mice and even completely cure MS symptoms in some mice:

  Here, we show that periodic 3-day cycles of a fasting mimicking diet (FMD) [ketogenic diet] are effective in ameliorating demyelination [the myeline sheath protects nerves] and symptoms in a murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model. The FMD reduced clinical severity in all mice and completely reversed symptoms in 20% of animals.²¹

• The U.S. government puts elite soldiers into ketosis because the altered metabolic state makes the soldiers more resilient to stressors. For example, navy seals can dive significantly lower when in ketosis.²²

• Ketone molecules signal epigenetic changes that turn off the expression of disease-causing genes and downgrade inflammation signaling.²³

• Ketone molecules remodel the gut microbiome²⁴:

  Recent studies have shown the role of the low carbohydrate, adequate protein, and high fat "ketogenic diet" in remodeling the composition of the gut microbiome and thereby facilitating protective effects in various central nervous system (CNS) disorders. Gut microbes are found to be involved in the pathogenesis of various CNS disorders like epilepsy, Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and stress, anxiety and depression. In vivo studies have shown an intricate link between gut microbes and KD and specific microbes/probiotics proved useful in in vivo CNS disease models. In the present review, we discuss the gut-brain bidirectional axis and the underlying mechanism of KD-based therapy targeting gut microbiome in in vivo animal models and clinical studies in neurological diseases. Also, we tried to infer how KD by altering the microbiota composition contributes towards the protective role in various CNS disorders. This review helps to uncover the mechanisms that are utilized by the KD and gut microbiota to modulate gut-brain axis functions and may provide novel opportunities to target therapies to the gut to treat neurologic disorders.²⁵

• Therapeutic ketosis is defined as blood ketone levels between 0.5 and 3.0 with the most noticeable effects happening around 1.5 and higher. A $45 Keto Mojo monitor can easily measure blood ketone levels at home.

• Ketones reduce unexplained muscle wasting (sarcopenia) by reducing inflammation. Non-responsive muscle wasting in older patients is thought to be caused by chronic, systemic inflammation.²⁶

  Differentiating Therapeutic Ketosis from Regular IF

  • Therapeutic ketosis (TK) is a markedly different strategy than using the keto diet for weight loss. You have to be much more careful about the nutrient profile to get results.

  • Therapeutic ketosis also differs from normal intermittent fasting in that it needs to be thought of as a medical treatment. For the average person who simply wants to lose some weight, reverse insulin resistance, reverse type 2 diabetes, lower blood pressure, and reduce inflammation, therapeutic ketosis is often not necessary. Some people with very stubborn weight loss and extreme insulin resistance can benefit from it.

  • Some of what I’ll be writing in upcoming weeks about the how-to of therapeutic ketosis may contradict the advice I give to the average person wanting to get healthy on IF. For example, the average person can dial back their fat consumption to lose weight faster. However, those using therapeutic ketosis need large amounts of fat so the body can keep ketones high. When advice is contradictory, follow the principles that apply to your situation.

  • Therapeutic ketosis is a strategy for deeper healing from complicated medical challenges. Therefore, a much higher level of commitment is required than applies to a normal IFer. The rules must be followed rigidly to get results, and there is very little wiggle room.

  • Those attempting therapeutic ketosis may find that intermittent fasting helps them to get into and stay in ketosis longer.

A Brief History of Therapeutic Ketosis

Therapeutic ketosis was first discovered in 1911 by two Parisian physicians Guelpa & Marie who noticed that epileptic seizures greatly subsided in patients who fasted for a minimum of 24 hours.²⁷ The problem was that they eventually had to eat again, and when they did, their seizures returned.

Researchers wondered if they could devise a diet that mimicked the metabolic adaptations present in the fasted state so epileptics could continue to get the therapeutic effects of fasting while eating. In 1921, Dr. Wilder at the Mayo Clinic devised a “fasting-mimicking diet” that worked.

As long as the epileptics received approximately 75% of their calories from fat, 20% from protein, and 5% or less from carbs, seizures would completely stop in about 55% of epileptics and another 30% saw a significant reduction in seizures. This therapy worked as long as the patients remained on the diet, and it did not lose efficacy over time. In fact, in a few epileptics, the fasting-mimicking diet, aka the ketogenic diet, healed them so completely that they could later eat a normal diet and the seizures never returned. Other patients needed to remain on the diet for life to keep the seizures away.

Therapeutic Ketosis Tip of the Week: Avoid Sweeteners

Avoid all processed keto products since they are full of fake sweeteners. Any sweet taste (including stevia) promotes insulin secretion which inhibits ketone production.

I am fully aware that the fake sugar industry funds studies that appear to show that fake sugars don’t increase insulin. The insulin release is small enough that it is not always detectable because the lab tests are not sensitive enough.

The question those studies are asking is: if we test someone’s insulin before drinking Diet Coke and after, is there a lab-detectable rise in insulin? Although the rise may not be detectable in the lab, insulin can still be rising. Insulin is difficult to measure accurately and the margin of error is larger than the tiny amount needed to disrupt your fat and ketone metabolism.

Because your body is extremely sensitive, sweet tastes cause the body to prepare for sugar by secreting tiny amounts of insulin. Such an insulin release can be proved by numerous studies that show that if you keep all things equal and add non-caloric sweeteners to someone’s diet, they will gain weight.

The American Cancer Society surveyed 78,694 women hoping that artificial sweeteners had a beneficial effect on weight. Surprise! The survey found exactly the opposite. Over a one-year period, those using artificial sweeteners were significantly more likely to gain weight:

The study concludes:

Users were significantly more likely than nonusers to gain weight, regardless of initial weight.²⁸

The only possible explanation for a food input to cause weight gain is either it supplies calories or it stimulates insulin. If someone injected you with insulin but you kept your calories the exact same, just the insulin alone would cause you to gain weight since insulin is your fat-storing hormone. So every time you have some stevia or any other zero-cal sweetener, it’s like you’re injecting yourself with a small amount of insulin. You’re putting yourself into constant “fat storage” mode.

Conflicting studies abound on every topic. If you feel like: “How do I know who to believe? Some experts and studies say it does increase insulin and some say it doesn’t.”

Let me give you a little hint:

Consider this statement published in the prestigious journal JAMA:

Industry-sponsored nutrition research, like that of research sponsored by the tobacco, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries, almost invariably produces results that confirm the benefits or lack of harm of the sponsor’s products, even when independently sponsored research comes to opposite conclusions.¹ Although considerable evidence demonstrates that those industries deliberately influenced the design, results, and interpretation of the studies they paid for,² much less is known about the influence of food-company sponsorship on nutrition research. Typically, the disclosure statements of sponsored nutrition studies state that the funder had no role in their design, conduct, interpretation, writing, or publication.²⁹

See that last sentence? There’s a snakey way of covering up where the funding is coming from. Of course there is.

In chapter 15 of The Obesity Code, Dr. Jason Fung cites 21 studies showing that zero-calorie sweeteners cause weight gain:

I know which studies I believe.

See that picture below? Yeah, that’s not food. It doesn’t matter if it says keto on the label, it will make nutritional ketosis difficult or impossible.

Click Here for Therapeutic Ketosis Part 2

Fast well and then feast well by making your feasts therapeutic and healing if you have a health challenge,

Leslie

[This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not designed as a substitute for medical advice. Talk to your doctor before beginning any dietary changes, especially if you are on medications for diabetes. Fasting while taking certain medications such as Metformin and especially insulin can lead to dangerously low blood sugars. If your doctor does not support fasting, search for a physician who will support your fasting journey. Fasting is not recommended for those pregnant, breastfeeding, or for children and teens still growing and developing. For those with diabetes, personal fasting coaches are available through TheFastingMethod.com. I receive no compensation or ad revenue for anything in this newsletter including links to books, videos, websites, coaching services, podcasts, or supplements.]

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